Ubi lets you use a Kinect & projector to create truly interactive presentations

By
Jared Newman and Neil Bennett

Digital Arts
|
16 August 13

Discover a £95 tech that could help you really impress clients when pitching websites and other interactive projects.

Demoing interactive prototypes (or full websites) using a projector can leave you either stuck behind a laptop or reliant on being in sync with a colleague. Ubi, which was created in conjunction with Microsoft, lets you use a Kinect as well so you can interact with your presentation: clicking on buttons, links and the like as if the wall was a giant touchscreen.

Microsoft first showed off Ubi's software last year at its Worldwide Partner Conference. Ubi had been a part of Microsoft's Kinect Accelerator program, which helps startups figure out how to use the technology in interesting ways. Since then, Ubi has been testing the software in a private beta with 50 organisations. Now, it's available to anyone running Windows 8.

Ubi says that ideally, the projector should be set up behind a transparent surface, so you don't block the projection with your hands and arms, and Kinect should be set up in an area where it can easily see your hand movements. Ubi recommends a ceiling mount.

Ubi costs $149 (around £95) for projected images up to 45-inches. Over that you'd need Ubi's professional software, which costs $379 (£240) and up.

Beyond pitch and other client presentations, we could also see Ubi being used in experiential design projects instead of touchscreens – as Ubi could be much more cost-effective than traditional touchscreens, especially at larger scales. It would also be relatively simple to create interactive applications using HTML5 and CSS, rather than coding full Kinect apps. These would run full-screen on a Windows 8 computer.

While these wouldn't offer the same gestural controls as full Kinect apps, they would be far cheaper and quicker to produce – and accessible to a much wider part of the creative community.